


extremely hurtling down a hill together (this will be fun, let's see where it goes)

by loosecloudymist_OperaEagleAce



Series: Ryohei appreciation [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: "this is not rarepair enough" it says, AU, BAMF Girls, Emotional Conversations, Emotional Intimacy, Everyone needs therapy tbh, Fuuta needs therapy, Haru boxes now, I do not believe it, I have now spent ten minutes researching how to train for boxing, Kyoko ships it, M/M, Platonic Pairings - Freeform, Rare Pairings, Rarepair, Ryohei appreciation, Ryohei is Tsuna's first friend, SO ANGST, Tsuna also has an extremely obvious undying crush on him, Tsuna being a good friend, Tsuna thirsts after Ryohei, also now the boxing club is Social Hour, and his abs, and hurt/comfort, and she's good at it, because of all the emotional intimacy this fic has been pushing and pushing me to make it poly, but the poly is in my soul, enjoy the fruits of my efforts, esp the kids, failure is good for the soul, not that Ryohei lets them slack, so I will probably write AUs, so um Tsuna and Ryohei keep collecting people who need their emotional support, that's it that's the fic, the high point of the fic: "what would Ryohei do"
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-05-25 09:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14973722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosecloudymist_OperaEagleAce/pseuds/loosecloudymist_OperaEagleAce
Summary: "When choosing to panic about Reborn and the mafia or over his new situation with his crush and suddenly being in close proximity every day, there was no room for contention: panicking about Ryohei won over the mafia every time."Tsuna has an extremely obvious crush on Ryohei and Kyoko ships it. Also known as the AU where Tsuna crush is shifted to Kyoko's brother, and everyone ends up better off, especially Tsuna.(A/N: I was surprised how many Canon Tsuna things became less grating when I shifted the crush.)





	1. Tsuna panics a lot around his crush

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Adel Mortescryche (Mortescryche)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mortescryche/gifts).



“Extreme start to the day! Extreme jogging! Morning! Good morning to you! Good day! Extreme morning!”

Tsuna watched Sasagawa Ryohei greet random people on the street while doing his daily jog. The boxer was so energetic all the time - obviously a morning person. It was amazing and really admirable. Tsuna wished he had that energy, but instead his coordination was eternally off and most energy he had was sunk into trying to understand schoolwork, remember things, and write well.  He was decidedly less of a morning person, although he did always get up a little early so he could watch the boxer run past his window.

Ryohei never gave up, never faltered, even when Tsuna could tell he was tired, which was another of the remarkable traits of the boxer. Tsuna wanted to be his friend… but no one wanted to be Dame-Tsuna's. It was useless to ask.

Not that Tsuna had gotten close to his senpai before. That was all kinds of rude for someone as inferior as himself, and Ryohei's sister was an idol. It would only bring negative attention to him if he tried to be friends with her.

Well… Tsuna hadn't gotten _close_ to Ryohei emotionally, per se, but physically he'd been within twenty feet or so before. It was… surprisingly close. And an amazing, paralyzing experience. On one occasion, the most recent, he'd been acutely aware of how close the boxer and those amazing abs were to him and sweated a bit, even if Ryohei had passed by and didn't even notice him.

Other times, Tsuna actively sought him out in boxing practice under the guise of watching the practice and just… took the time to admire Ryohei's exquisite figure. It really was a blessing, heavensent for all the people attracted to muscle.

Once, the boxer had bid him an extremely good morning, and Tsuna had been unable to move until the bell rang and Hibari-san approached, threatening to bite him to death. Tsuna couldn't help but feel starstruck, no matter how useless that was, even though he'd just been some random person Ryohei had greeted. _Then_ Kyoko had come up behind him and apologized for how intense her brother was and… Tsuna was still not in his right mind. The next few hours were hazy, honestly, but he vaguely recalled saying something to the effect of, “Oh, I don't mind at all. Honestly, that's ridiculously attractive, and I adore it.” Strangely eloquent for his jumbled mind. That was… not one of his best ideas, and he didn't even realize until hours later that he just confessed to his crush’s _sister._ The school idol. What was he _thinking_?!

Thankfully, she never told anyone (except for maybe Hana, but the girl was surprisingly good at keeping a secret, so it stayed a secret).

Well, it stayed a secret until Reborn, at least.

-._.-

When Tsuna greeted Kyoko the first morning Reborn was there, the hitman noticed flustered behavior and looking over her shoulder - avoidance of eye contact. Well, if he had a crush this out of his league and pretty, he probably was a normal teenage boy, and the odd, early time he'd woken up, seemingly just to watch a loud jogger run by the house, meant nothing.

Reborn fired the bullet after she left, chuckling and anticipating chaos.

He didn't quite predict correctly what it was, though.

“Confess to Ryohei-senpai with my Dying Will!! Arghhh!”

Reborn blinked, digested the information, then blinked again. Wasn't that the prospective Sun candidate? Why would Tsuna have a crush on that boy?

Then he remembered the early time his new student woke at and it clicked.

-._.-

“KYOKO!” Tsuna called, just in his underwear, as he reached school. The Sky was still under the influence of the bullet. “WHERE IS YOUR BROTHER?!”

“I think he went to jog around the school before class, why?” she asked, bemused and smiling. She'd given several hints that she knew about his crush, and he wasn't sure how to feel about it. Since she didn't really do anything with the knowledge, he supposed there wasn't much he could feel about it.

“I WILL FIND HIM AND CONFESS!!” Tsuna declared. He took two giant steps towards the school, and then the Flame on his forehead petered out and he fell over. “Ahhh…” he clutched his head, feeling dizzy. “What…?”

Kyoko helped him up, giggling. “You should go to the nurse,” she advised. “It would be great to see you confess today, though.”

Tsuna stared a little, in shock, before a blush slowly spread across his cheeks. He finally murmured a bunch of gibberish and ducked his embarrassed head.

Suddenly, Kyoko was pushed out of the way by another upperclassman. “Hey, you little pervert,” Mochida-senpai said. Tsuna looked around despite knowing it couldn't possibly be anyone else. “Yeah, you. How dare you confess to Kyoko so filthily? Now _everyone_ knows you're a pervert, and no one will let you date her! But, if you insist, meet me at the gym after school! Then we'll see who can truly win Kyoko!” Glaring at the Sky, the kendo club captain flounced away conceitedly.

“...What just happened?” Tsuna questioned at Kyoko, still disoriented. Students filing past them sneered at Tsuna and laughed.

“Looks like Mochida-senpai misunderstood your confession to be for me,” she guessed nervously. “He's been after me for a few weeks and won't take no for an answer. I guess he hopes that by ‘proving’ himself to me I'll finally throw myself at his feet.” Kyoko sighed here and appeared more annoyed than Tsuna ever suspected she could.

“Which, of course, won't happen,” Hana added loftily, appearing and joining the conversation. “Look, monkey, we can kill two birds with one stone here. You defeat that big jerk after school and not only will I make sure he never lives it down so that Kyoko doesn't have to deal with him, but you also get the chance to impress Ryohei with your physical prowess and get him interested.”

Tsuna nodded and agreed vehemently. Sounded like a great plan to him.

-._.-

Except… he forgot… he didn't have any ability?! At all?!

He stood there, alternating between looking frantically at Mochida-senpai, the club members bearing “armor,” Kyoko and Hana, and Ryohei.

“I challenge you, and whoever wins shall take Kyoko as their prize!” The kendo club captain declared, looking entirely too self-satisfied.

“Uh, no,” Tsuna disagreed quietly as the girls exploded from their spot. “She's not… really a prize…? She's a person?” Glancing back at Hana and Kyoko and their outrage, his determination solidified and he stood his ground without question marks. “She's a person. You don't get to refer to a person like an object, and if that's what you think of someone you want to date, then I guess it's my job to stop you.”

“Tell him, Tsuna!” Hana's voice emerged from the crowd, and Kyoko cheered in agreement.

Ryohei's followed not far behind. “You extremely give him what he deserves, Sawada!”

Tsuna nearly stumbled and fell over at the blatant support of his crush. As it was he got a little light headed and blushed.

“Ha. We'll see about _that_ ,” Mochida replied, sneering.

Tsuna bit his lip and tried to control his breathing as he nearly hyperventilated. His crush just supported him, plus he was going to take on the best kendo contender in the school without any physical ability!

Just then a bullet slammed into his forehead, and he exclaimed “AVENGE KYOKO-CHAN WITH MY DYING WILL!!”

-._.-

...It ended up that Tsuna won by virtue of insanity and strength, but the way that he did didn't help the indecency case any. At least Ryohei didn't judge him, being fond of running around shirtless in shorts himself. That was pretty much all Tsuna cared about at this point, until he’d start getting made fun of again.

Kyoko was happy that he won and proved that she was not an object. She also got the honor of slapping Mochida-senpai hard. After that, Hana have him a scalding glare that ground any surviving pride he might have had into dust.

“Thank you to the extreme, Sawada!” Ryohei roared, slapping Tsuna on the back. “You showed that coward the spirit of a true sportsman and defeated him soundly!”

Tsuna just froze, panic-stricken expression aimed at Kyoko, who only smiled. Far too amused for Tsuna’s taste.

“You're really strong,” Kyoko chipped in, an awed expression on her face. Right underneath it was mischief, and Tsuna felt fear. “So humble. So focused. Just perfect for boxing.” Her eye facing Tsuna actually _winked,_ and he choked.

Ryohei turned to Tsuna with renewed interest. Not many people received such a glowing recommendation from Kyoko, as nice as she was.“Would you join the boxing club?” he asked. “We could use more people with your extreme spirit!!”

Tsuna was still frozen. Despite that, he managed to nod. Yessss, anything to be closer to Ryohei!

-._.-

He had another realization when he awoke early the next morning.

He didn't have any ability?! At all?!

Ryohei was going to be so unimpressed, because what happened yesterday was really just a fluke! He was so clumsy, Ryohei would try to teach him one move and he'd completely fail. And then he'd see that Tsuna was really no good after all.

Tsuna couldn't let that happen. He couldn't go to the boxing club no matter what!

The door opened just then, and it turned out to be his mother. “You have a nice lively visitor,” she giggled. Something barreled past her and she hurried aside. “Well, have fun, Tsu-kun!” Nana waved, and shut the door.

The blur turned out to be Ryohei, and?!?!? Tsuna had very mixed emotions about his crush being in his room. One, he was a complete mess having just woken up, not to mention the fact that he'd slept on the floor because of Reborn, and two, his room was as messy as all get out, because he never bothered to clean it. But Ryohei was here? And Tsuna couldn't help but compulsively feel optimistic and starstruck in his presence.

“Time to have an extreme jog before practice, Sawada!” Ryohei roared, fistpumping.

Tsuna, predictably, flailed, and his first response to all the emotions was to duck under his covers and hide. Unfortunately, this did not deter the boxer, and he dragged the covers off of Tsuna and physically dragged Tsuna out of bed. At this point, it was clear he could hide but not well enough, never mind running.

He was downstairs and out the door in a blur - two minutes.

-._.-

Jogging with Ryohei was at once the most exhilarating and terrifying thing he'd ever done. Ever. Exhilarating because crush right there?! and he got to be there on Ryohei's morning round of “good mornings” which were just so precious it melted his heart. Terrifying because what if Tsuna fell behind? It was an extremely valid fear. Ryohei was just so fast… and fit… mmm, those abs…

 _Not the time_! His brain shrieked, as they came up to school.

“You’re the only other member so far this year,” Ryohei informed him, stepping into the gym. “Last year there were a couple more upperclassmen but they graduated. It's been pretty lonely, but with you here, I'm sure that won't be a problem!”

“I, uhh,” Tsuna opened his mouth to confess that he was completely horrible at any physical activity at all, “Yeah. Definitely.” _Stupid mouth!_ He screamed in his head. _That's not what I needed to say!_

“We just completed an extremely great warm up jog! Now we need to warm up muscles through stretching, and then I can teach you some basic boxing things! Assuming you don't know anything yet, of course,” he checked, and Tsuna shook his head.

Predictably, Tsuna had absolutely no idea what Ryohei was saying about anything (just being in the boxer's presence made him a little light-headed), and he also failed at the stretches.

“No worries,” Ryohei reassured him, smiling brightly, “it takes a while to get used to it. You'll adapt. Doing it over and over again helps to work out kinks and get it perfect, and then it becomes muscle memory.”

That was too kind, Tsuna thought as he failed to execute even arm rolls correctly.

Suddenly Ryohei's eyebrows furrowed and he placed his hands on Tsuna's shoulders. Hands?? on shoulders?? Hieee! Officially an emergency! Tsuna barely registered Ryohei saying “Maybe you need a more kinetic approach like me, not just visual or oral.”

Ryohei proceeded to show him correct posture, which had been screwing everything over twice as badly. The new strategy actually worked because the position that Ryohei pulled him into was now burned into his bones, and there was no way he'd forget it. Not when his crush had placed him there. Then they moved on to posture for a solid, simple punch. 

“Stand straight. Look me in the eye. Challenge me,” the boxer urged. Tsuna low-key wanted to cry?? How could he just say that as if it was the easiest thing in the world? Nevertheless, he did his best to stand up straight.

“Good!” Ryohei cheered. “That's great progress!” Tsuna blushed tomato red. “Now, stand with your feet a shoulder width apart, with the foot opposite of your dominant hand in slightly in front of the other.” In conjunction with the soothing murmured words, Ryohei nudged each body part to the correct place, and it clicked for Tsuna.

They would have continued, but then the gym doors swung open and Hibari swept in. “Both of you are late to class,” he proclaimed. “Go directly or be bitten to death.”

“Thanks, Hibari!” Ryohei called to the prefect. “Want to spar after school?”

Inclining his head just a bit, Hibari-san said, “I'm not joining the boxing club.”

“Sure!” the boxer agreed, so fast and easy going that Tsuna knew there was no chance he gave up on Hibari-san potentially bring a member.

Tsuna also had another reason to revere his senpai now. Someone who could be late without being bitten to death?! Ryohei was truly amazing.

Things were… looking up, it complicated.

-._.-

The thing with Gokudera was complicated and confusing and frightening, to be honest. What would he do with a subordinate?! He just wanted another friend, if possible. At the same time, Tsuna could just _feel_ that the transfer student needed care and love. He felt… well, he felt like Tsuna had just a week or two ago. Alone, friendless, going through the motions, though Gokudera was… a bit more fatalistic and suicidal about the whole thing.

-._.-

Morning boxing practice was over and Tsuna had just been released to class when he saw a big commotion on the roof and the ground. He listened for ten seconds to the muttering and took off like a rocket back to the gym.

“Ryohei-senpai!!” He called. “Yamamoto's going to jump off the roof! Please help me stop him!”

They raced to the rooftop. As they climbed up, Tsuna asked, “what are we going to do or say?! I don't know what to do! I've never talked anyone out of suicide!”

“Calm down,” Ryohei told him, eyes fixed on the next and last flight of stairs. “We can do this. You can't think about it, just do it. Time is very important in cases like this.”

They burst out onto the rooftop and the crowd of people reflexively cleared the way for the two, as fast as they were.

Ryohei barely stopped Tsuna from barreling over the edge in time. He helped Tsuna straighten himself out, and then they turned to Yamamoto Takeshi.

“What are you doing?” Tsuna blurted instinctively. There were alarm bells going off in his head and something in him was longing to reach out to his classmate. In addition to the sudden (and contradicting) wave of hopelessness and urgency washing over him. “Why?”

Yamamoto simply gestured to the sling that held his arm, a bitter, broken thing, even worse than his usual fake smiles. “The baseball god has abandoned me,” he explained forlornly. “You should get it, being useless and all.”

“No!” Tsuna cried as a knee-jerk reaction. Unfortunately, he didn't have anything to say, and so Ryohei took advantage of his lapse in speaking to interject.

“He's not useless,” Ryohei contended, eyes strangely soft, placing a supporting hands on Tsuna's shoulder. “And neither are you. Even without baseball, don't you have parents? Friends? Other people who will miss you.”

Yamamoto took a minute to digest that, and Ryohei was going to open his mouth to continue, but Tsuna nudged him in the ribs and shook his head. Something told him that it would be a very bad idea to say whatever Ryohei had been about to say.

“I… don't have real friends,” Yamamoto admitted slowly. Delicately.

“We'll be your friends,” Tsuna immediately offered, eyes bright and welcoming and determined. “You can figure it out.”

“You'll never be rid of us,” Ryohei added, eyes more mirthful.

“Just please, don't take this step,” Tsuna pled, approaching Yamamoto. “It's irreversible. Think of your father. Think of everything you have yet to even dream of doing.”

“I'm only good at baseball,” Yamamoto mumbled, staring into Tsuna's sincere eyes like a lifeline.

Tsuna shook his head. “No, Yamamoto-kun. You're carefree and you bring happiness to everyone around you. You're cheerful, and you also have other feelings, just like any other person.” Tsuna's closed his eyes, breathed out, and then opened his expression to molten gold eyes and a soft smile. “I understand. _We_ understand. And we would love to know more about you and become your true friends. To be friends because we like _you_ , not your talent or popularity.”

Both Tsuna and Ryohei could see the way Yamamoto's eyes shined so vulnerably, and the exact second he dared to hope.

Yamamoto breathed deeply and then whispered, “okay,” softly, to the wind. Like he expected his agreement to be blown away. In unison, Tsuna and Ryohei liked at each other and sighed in relief. Then suddenly, as they each took one of the former baseball star’s hands, the fence collapsed under their weight and they flew over the edge.

“Waaaaah!” Tsuna cried. “Hieeeeeeeeee!”

Ryohei just yelled and whooped extremely, because apparently he didn't think being about to die was all that important. Or he didn't realize. Or his approach to dying was the same as with almost any other situation, enthusiasm and determination to meet the challenge. Which was strangely endearing, but not good for survival in circumstances like this.

Yamamoto didn't make any sounds, just looked towards the ground, frozen and panicking. Tsuna's related down to his very soul.

Luckily, Reborn had a Dying Will Bullet, and Tsuna was able to catch both teens in an arm each. Tsuna rolled when he hit the ground, and luckily he was unharmed. Yamamoto had some scrapes but was fine overall, and he looked at Tsuna and Ryohei with complete trust. Ryohei was also as unharmed as ever, and strangely, his brush with death seemed to have made him more… extreme.

What was it with the people surrounding Tsuna seeming to treat death as unreal, immediately bouncing back, and tying themselves to him without a thought?!

-._.-

When choosing to panic about Reborn and the mafia or over his new situation with his crush and suddenly being in close proximity every day, there was no room for contention: panicking about Ryohei won over the mafia _every time._ Even when Gokudera and Bianchi and Lambo arrived. Which, Tsuna had to order Gokudera to stay out of his time with Ryohei. The boxer was actually really effective as a teacher, and Tsuna was absolutely coming to love their time together, even if he still got really scared and froze up during spars. But Tsuna wouldn't have all that much of a problem with the new kid from Italy joining the boxing club if not for the outrageous temper and unreasonable protectiveness.

Yamamoto fared better. He got along remarkably well with Ryohei, especially because of the promise to be a true friend and get to know them, but he still had a broken arm, so he couldn't box. Unfortunately, as he seemed to want to join the club.

“I love baseball,” Yamamoto told them, scratching the back of his head, “but I need people more, and being surrounded by friends just seems like what I need.”

And indeed, something in Tsuna purred every time they spent time together, especially the three of them. The loneliness and longing inside Yamamoto diminished when he was with them.

Reborn seemed to find Tsuna's noninclination to panic about the mafia frustrating, but Tsuna didn't really care? In an case, the baby made the best he could of things, and even when Tsuna didn't notice, he often stirred up chaos that led to odd situations. Like this one.

“Why are we at the river?!” Tsuna hieed, knowing he couldn't swim.

“A renowned boxing master told me it's a great place to do swimming exercises!” Ryohei explained, pumped up. Tsuna was considerably less excited.

“It's fall though! The water’s really cold!”

“It will feel warm with extreme exercise and enthusiasm!”

Tsuna couldn't deny that, to an extent, Ryohei would make any surroundings warm. And he really couldn't deny Ryohei at all.

About an hour into their exercise, with Ryohei teaching Tsuna how to swim painfully slowly, Tsuna noticed a girl walking along the side of the bridge, dangerously close to the edge. She seemed to be skipping, though.

The problem came when Reborn hopped onto the fence and started talking with her. Tsuna heard a particularly loud exclamation - “Hahi! Haru will always remember this! Thank you, Reborn-kun!” - before something inside him _yanked_ him as fast as possible to the bridge side, and the girl tumbled over the side right into the water.

He panicked before her head emerged, finally. “I can't swim!!” she wailed, and Tsuna tried not to panic with her.

Instead, he asked himself _What Would Ryohei Do_ , and immediately calmed, preparing himself to help calm the girl as well.

“It'll be fine,” Tsuna called as well as he could above the water, kicking towards her frantically. “I'm coming to help.”

She seemed to calm as Tsuna took hold of her and dragged her back to the bank, although it was a lot more effort than Tsuna had thought it would be. Actually, Tsuna wouldn't have made it if Ryohei hadn't joined in halfway through.

“Are you okay?!” Ryohei asked once they were all safe and out of the water. (Thankfully. It _was_ way cold. Too cold.)

“Yeah,” she shivered but smiled brightly. “Thank you for saving Haru! Haru is forever in your debt! Haru will follow you around and do whatever you want!” She bowed to them. “Plus, you're both handsome and kind, prime boyfriend material!”

Tsuna blushed, glancing involuntarily at Ryohei. Yes, the boxer was definitely boyfriend material. He'd considered that many times.

“I'd just like a friend,” Tsuna told her sincerely.

“Join the boxing club!” Ryohei proclaimed passionately, and that was that.

-._.-

It was a match made in heaven or hell, Tsuna couldn't seem to decide on one. It varied from day to day with his capacity to tolerate their combined passion for everything.

(He still found it ridiculously cute on Ryohei.)

(Also, Haru seemed to really thrive in the sport. Tsuna was happy to see that.)

(Also, how was Haru allowed to join the boxing club when she went to a different school?? Tsuna was afraid of the answer to that one.)

-._.-

Reborn went around terrorizing him as usual and Tsuna and Ryohei adopted three children together (they lived at Tsuna's but Ryohei doted on them and afhkifagjks so _kind_ and _caring_ and _thoughtful_ ). Tsuna just… his heart wept for them. They needed love and as children were much more open to it than… say, Gokudera.

Who was still a problem. He did _not_ want to participate nicely in a group discussion and seemed to have no interest whatsoever in becoming friends with Tsuna or his friends, which… made things awkward. Put them almost at odds. And Tsuna felt like he was devoted to the _idea_ of a perfect Tenth, not Tsuna himself.

-._.-

Then one day, Ryohei was attacked.

-._.-


	2. Ryohei and Tsuna have panic attacks over Fuuta's disappearance and then Ryohei is hospitalized oops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of failure is good for the soul. Or at least for your future self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Really Long but I also didn't want to cut any scenes so please enjoy and make sure to let me know you appreciate the effort by reviewing!
> 
> Yes, this fic gives more attention to mental/emotional health than the characters probably would, but wish fulfillment. Let me live a little. ^^ And it's very sappy, but I've never understood how just a little good emotion is “sappy”, so if it's not your cup of tea, you might as well hit that back button XD  
> There's less Tsuna being a panicked gay in this chapter, sadly, but there's a lot of plot going down. The panicked gay is all,,, in the beginning, as you'll see v soon! Tsuna calms down over time and exposure, I'd say. Also, there's a lot of Tsuna + Ryohei + Fuuta/all the children interaction in this, which is fun!
> 
> Have a scene of fluff before the true Kokuyo Arc hits. And have fun with the wild mood swings. ^^  
> -._.+

“SAWADA!!” Ryohei's extreme voice pierced through Tsuna’s sleepy haze. It was even louder than normal because he actually raised it as if it wasn't already loud enough. Ryohei had some hearing problems, which only heightened his natural exuberance. Ryohei just… _leaked_ life. He was great and Tsuna wanted to be around him forever and just snuggle the life out of him and never let him go--

“SAWADA!” the boxer called again, this time coming over to the bed and yanking the covers off of Tsuna. The Sky’s mind refocused. Oh yeah, Tsuna always used to have problems getting up. Kaa-san wasn't nearly pushy enough to wake him up successfully, but that had quickly been rectified ever since Ryohei had started coming over every day to drag Tsuna on the exhilarating, now more-or-less normal, life-or-death experience of Morning Jogs with Ryohei. Starring Tsuna's utterly unhelpful brain ogling Ryohei's muscles and drifting off on tangents and still somehow managing to find a way to keep up. Tsuna found himself doing a little bit of parkour every now and then.

Ryohei grabbed Tsuna bodily, by the arms, and hauled him out of bed. The contact point tingled and Tsuna was somewhat jolted out of his tired trance. He might have made a little eep, too, but he wasn't awake enough to tell you _that_. If Ryohei could never take his warm hands off of Tsuna again that would be extremely fine, universe. Cough cough. Or better yet, one of those amazing hugs!

“Onii-san, don't _manhandle_ him,” another person said from inside his room. Oops. Tsuna had been too focused on the attention-grabbing sunshine child in the room. Tsuna opened his eyes wider and processed that it was Kyoko.

“No, please continue, I really like this," spilled out of Tsuna's mouth before he could stop it, and if he wasn't wide awake before, he was _now_. What a monumentally stupid way to give himself away. Tsuna never had to get drunk to make stupid drunk mistakes.

Oh. Well, now Ryohei's strong and very comforting arms were wrapped around him, and if his idiotic statement from before had led to _this_ bliss, it couldn't have been too idiotic then. Mmm. Tsuna took a deep breath and let it out, snuggling into the Sun's chest.

Ryohei chuckled, and Tsuna could feel the low vibration against his cheek. He blushed.

“I'm going to keep giving you extreme positive contact until you take it for granted!!” Ryohei proclaimed. Tsuna didn't think he knew what he was saying, as there was no way the younger student could ever take this electric contact between them for granted. It was an extremely amazing sensation, every time he experienced it sending his senses into overdrive… but also calming him down exponentially. It was a weird thing and very difficult to explain.

Tsuna didn't have to say anything in reply, so he didn't, just nodded. The feeling of his cheek over Ryohei's chest was enough to make him blush again.

“Aww,” Tsuna's mother cooed from the door. Kyoko was there with her, watching with a soppy look.  “How cute! Are you going to snuggle instead of going on your morning run?”

Ryohei jolted up like he'd been shocked. “Oh no! We have to do it before we run out of time, Sawada!” Tsuna nodded and reluctantly let go. Ryohei shot him a blazing smile that almost made the lost hug worthwhile. Tsuna almost staggered back from the positivity and affection in the expression. Ryohei tossed running clothes at Tsuna, then went downstairs with Kyoko to eat a bit and wait.

Tsuna got ready as fast as possible so he could spend all possible time with his crush. Ryohei practically had no shame about bodies left, and Tsuna could only guess it was from going around with as little articles of clothing as he could get away with, plus being in the boxing club. So the first time he'd shoved clothes at Tsuna, Ryohei had tried to help take his clothes off, and Tsuna was surprised he didn't burst into flames on the spot. (Dying Will Flames or otherwise.) Tsuna had “hieed” higher than even _he_ had thought possible, which was a new record, _yanked_ his shirt back down, and shoved the boxer out in the hall, not able to speak. Afterwards, Tsuna explained that he would feel a lot more comfortable if Ryohei stayed outside while he changed, and it hadn't been an issue since.

Tsuna wouldn't have minded, except… he _wanted_ Ryohei seeing that much of his skin to be a big deal, not something that just happened every day. Tsuna wasn't comfortable in general with just flashing skin at people like Ryohei was.

When the clumsy teen finally got downstairs, his crush was helping to spoon part of an omelet onto Fuuta's plate and talking (relatively) quietly with the child.

“...love to rank you,” Fuuta was saying with stars in his eyes. Both the dazzling stars that were usually there and the admiring ones that Ryohei coaxed out naturally. “You and Tsuna-nii have the strongest friendship in all of Namimori!”

“I’ll never get tired of you ranking me, Fuuta-kun. I'll extremely tell you as many times as it takes--you can rank me as much as you want!!”

Not only had that amazing friendship statistic made Tsuna want to hide and giggle in embarrassment and relief and happiness, but Ryohei's compassionate determination warmed Tsuna's _soul_.

Then, before he knew what was happening, Ryohei turned around, saw him, and already started preparing Tsuna's plate. He almost had to duck out of the room in order to avoid squealing, but Ryohei approached him with the plate of food before the Sky worked up enough will to move.

“I love you and I love this food,” Tsuna mumbled as the Sun handed it to him.

“Good!” Ryohei beamed, reaching down to brush his hand over Tsuna's arm. “Enjoy to the extreme!”

He did, although halfway through his brain caught up to what Ryohei said in reaction to what _he_ said, and Tsuna choked.

Ryohei kind of panicked (read: “SAWADA, ARE YOU EXTREMELY OKAY?! DRINK THIS WATER!! DON'T DIE!!”) and thumped Tsuna's back to help, which helped the food go down but not Tsuna's flaming face.

Tsuna also enjoyed the jog (a bit shorter than usual, because it took a While to get things wrapped up at the Sawada house) and boxing practice after that.

“.+.”

Ryohei was flipping wonderful with children. Tsuna could watch him interact with them all day, honestly. The boxer was extremely considerate--though he could work on being patient and a little more quiet--and always enthusiastic. In fact, often he was more enthusiastic about whatever the children brought up than they were. Also, Ryohei occasionally brought presents, thoughtful and highly anticipated.

Tsuna was much more awkward with the children. He still cared for them a lot, but until Ryohei had shown him some things, he hadn't been the best example or caretaker.

“How do you do it?” Tsuna asked him one day. “They annoy and exhaust me so much. Especially Lambo.”

Eyes shining, Ryohei shrugged. “We’re similar! Life is extremely precious and there’s so much to experience! They just want to explore all the parts of life they can, and at the same time they want to be loved and encouraged.”

“Oh.” The wonder and enthusiasm were some of the things Tsuna like best about Ryohei. Once he started applying that to Lambo, I-Pin, and Fuuta, their interactions got a lot easier and they came to look up to him.

".(."

When Ryohei and Tsuna arrived to practice on a typical morning, Ryohei slammed open the door to Haru making ninja noises and Yamamoto smiling like an idiot while they stretched and chatted. Yamamoto still had to be careful on his almost-healed arm, but he was learning to punch with his other one.

Ryohei and Tsuna joined the stretches, Ryohei taking over as the leader. Arm circles, squats, push-ups, sit-ups, side-steps, among others. Boxing didn't allow hits below the belt, but footwork still had to be fast.

“Alright, time for punching bags!” Ryohei called. Tsuna did not like the sandbags very much because they were heavy and he wasn't a quarter as good on them as Ryohei was, but he worked with them regardless. “Let's use the combination jab-cross-hook! Jab-cross-hook, jab-cross-hook! Let's go, twenty minutes with a minute break in between every five!”

Ryohei spent some time going around to them and making sure their posture was solid and each different punch was delivered the right way. Tsuna remembered a lot, but not everything. He loved these teaching moments because not only was the full focus of Ryohei's attention on them, he also accompanied all his corrections with touches that really helped Tsuna (and also unraveled him a bit).

“Your thumb needs to be in a more natural position--remember, between first and second fingers--then your whole fist will relax more. Drop your shoulder a bit, it's super tense--while keeping it close to your chest, Sawada--yep, that's exactly right, good job! Keep doing that! Now, snap your non-dominant arm out _straight_ for the jab, you're curving it too much, that's too much like a hook--watch me, then replicate. Almost there, just tuck it in more--yup! And remember to _throw_ your butt into the cross, that puts your full weight behind it. I'll correct your hook later, but it’s your best punch! You've come so far and I'm so proud of you!” Tsuna grinned brightly through his blush and sweat, hitting the bag harder. Who cared if it was hard if he could have this kind of reward for it?

“Okay, five minute break, then we'll work with weights!”

“Finally!” Haru said, flopping down. She loved practice, but it got tiring even for her. She liked to complain, but she didn't really mind all the work,  Tsuna could tell.

Ryohei laughed and threw them water bottles. Yamamoto opened his and poured half the contents over his face.

“I'm getting better!” Tsuna put in, excited.

“Of course you are! You work almost as hard as Sasawaga-senpai!” Haru praised.

 _Look who's speaking_ , Tsuna thought.

“Yeah, it's awesome to see you improve, Sawada!” Yamamoto added.

“You're all doing extremely amazing!” Ryohei roared. “Sawada has definitely made the most progress, though.” He turned to beam at Tsuna, who gaped a little.

“It's, uh, um--”

“Don't you dare say it was nothing,” Haru broke in, and Tsuna closed his mouth, chastised.

“Don't extremely downgrade your effort! You've put in an extreme amount of time and passion, so own it!” Ryohei admonished him, coming over and gesticulating his words, and ending them with a hug.

“Yeah, credit where it's due,” Yamamoto said, mirth and happiness shining in his eyes. “I'm never going to be able to catch up!”

“Yes you are,” all three rounded on him.

“Never mind, of course I am!” he chuckled nervously. “Of course, what a bad joke!”

Haru splashed water on his face. “That wasn't a joke. You can't fool us like we don't know you or care about your issues.”

“We're a _team_ , Yamamoto-kun,” Tsuna addressed him sincerely, “and that means no one gets left behind! Even better, we're a group of friends. We could never  leave you to sink in your own!”

“I was going to say something,” Ryohei ambled up to contribute, “but I think Sawada said it perfectly. And now, weight time!”

-._.+

One day, Ryohei brought macaroni and glue to the house. “Let's make glued macaroni pictures!” he exclaimed, beaming. The children were all for it, and no way was Tsuna missing out on that quality time.

“Okay. So get a piece of construction paper and lots of macaroni--”

“Not that much, Lambo!” I-Pin reprimanded. “Everyone else needs some!”

Lambo blinked up from the floor, macaroni sprinkled over his hair and the floor. The entire box had been spilled. “Lambo-sama needs all of it to make the best project!” he proclaimed.

“No,” Tsuna chided. “If you do that, then we won't have anything to do, and we'll have to leave. Then you won't have anyone to show your amazing project to.” 

“Mama,” Lambo pointed out, cheeks puffed and already sulking.

“Share, Lambo,” Tsuna patiently told him. “It's part of being in a family. Plus, all getting to do it together would be more fun than doing it alone, right?”

Like every time Tsuna mentioned being in the Sawada family, Lambo's expression sort of froze. Tsuna hadn't known what was wrong the first few times, but after inferring from a few of Reborn's reflective answers to questions, he got it. Lambo hadn't had a family for so long. Tsuna really should have gotten it earlier. Tsuna put Lambo down in his lap and helped Lambo start his project, abandoning the idea of doing one for himself. This would prevent trouble anyway.

Ryohei had been guiding the less troublesome Fuuta and I-Pin in their projects while they laid macaroni out before gluing it. Ryohei gave a thumbs up and a big smile to Tsuna.

“Extremely good job, Sawada! That's how you do it!”

Tsuna was getting better at blushing less.  
He cleared his throat and focused on Lambo. 

"First, here's your macaroni,” Tsuna told him, pulling a reasonable portion towards them.

“Place it on the paper where you want it to go before we glue it. That way you can mess up and still fix it without getting glue everywhere.”

Lambo picked up a bunch of the macaroni and fidgeted while staring at it. “But I want to glue first! There's no way I'll mess up!”

Tsuna sighed. He couldn't be too irritated, considering the fact that the cow child was being completely sincere.

“Okay,” Tsuna conceded. What was the worst that could happen? He'd have to clean up a huge mess. He was doing that often enough these days. In fact, he'd asked Kaa-san for the way which _she_ cleaned, because he wasn't able to clean up glue or various sticky foods without leaving their residue. She'd been so proud of him (and definitely showed him, of course).

Lambo cheered and grabbed the glue. Before Tsuna could stop him, he slathered it all over the paper in bizarre shapes and swirls. At least he didn't rub his hands all over it.

“I'm already done with gluing,” Lambo bragged to Fuuta and I-Pin, who were still carefully considering their designs. I-Pin looked like she was going to end up with a dragon and Fuuta with a planet or galaxy.

Fuuta calmly told Lambo without looking up, “It's because you cheated. Plus, we're going to have way better designs.”

The casual way he just _demolished_ Lambo left the target gaping, Tsuna stunned and a little bit amused, I-Pin looking at Fuuta consideringly, and Ryohei bent over to his side, trying to conceal his chuckles.

“That's-that's not true!” Lambo protested. “I'm making… uh… I'm making what I see when I go to the future!”

“Sure, honey,” Tsuna agreed with him. It may or may not be true, but it didn't matter now. “Let's get your macaroni on here. You can still make anything you want.”

“I like this!” Lambo protested, glaring at Tsuna.

“Yes, of course,” Tsuna pandered, exasperated. “Let's just do it.”

“And don't help!” He instructed Tsuna sharply.  “I'm a big boy, I can do it by myself!”

So Tsuna held his cow son and stroked his back while Lambo made some sense out of his swirls. All of the macaroni designs ended up being cool. (Ryohei threw together something that was probably supposed to be a dolphin at first but abandoned it halfway because it was _really bad_ in favor of a simple boxing glove, which he could draw in his sleep, and Tsuna wholeheartedly approved.)

 

-._.+

Fuuta was missing.

The little boy that Ryohei and Tsuna had gotten to love so much that they considered him their _child_ was gone. (Well, it was more of an unspoken thing, and Tsuna didn't really know if Ryohei felt the same way about their relationship with Fuuta, Tsuna would never, never presume to know Ryohei's feelings, and there was pretty much no way Ryohei would ever reciprocate - but all that didn't matter to the topic at hand, even though it was never far from Tsuna's mind. Tsuna had to concentrate on Fuuta. Fuuta needed him.)

They hoped Fuuta would come back sometime during the night, but he didn't. Nana's worried face woke him up, and they searched the house one more time together, just in case. During that time, Ryohei dropped in.

“Please,” Tsuna pleaded, “Help us find Fuuta. He's been taken.”

Ryohei didn't wait. He knew as well as Tsuna did how grateful Fuuta was to now have a home and accepting family. “Sawada-san, your son and I are going to search outside your home.”

“Okay,” Nana nodded, giving permission.

...They didn't find him, despite the hours spent on the search.

-._.+

It was hard not to feel like failures as parents if they couldn't even protect their eldest son. They didn't even know where he was. And since Fuuta was gone and all the older people in the house were perpetually panicked and gloomy, the other children of course noticed something.

One night while Tsuna and Nana were helping Lambo and I-Pin get ready for bed, they finally asked. I-Pin tugged on Tsuna's pants and expressed in broken Japanese:

“Fuuta gone?” Her eyes flashed back and forth between Nana and Tsuna. Lambo stood a little behind the Chinese girl, looking tremulous and very lost. 

Nana's face never faltered. “Hey, it'll be okay,” she assured them. “He's just gone on vacation! He'll be back in a bit!”

Tsuna could see that they weren't swallowing her words. “Oh, my poor children,” he muttered under his breath, then pulled Lambo into a crushing hug. (I-Pin had turned more towards the older woman.)  Lambo sniffled, snuggled in tight, and then started crying more in earnest.

Lambo hadn't gotten much of a childhood; that much was clear. What Tsuna had thought of as super annoying traits and habits became a lot less abrasive as he remembered that this was perhaps the first time Lambo was allowed to be a true child--he got to manifest his traits and habits without receiving punishment or disgust in return. Instead of having to carve out fun and attention for himself, now he got it for free! And he used that fully to his advantage. Tsuna saw a lot of himself in Lambo. (Gosh, he hoped he has never been as irritating as the cow child.)

So Tsuna let Lambo cry, even encouraged it. Not the fake cry for grape candy or attention, but real wracking sobs with desperate, not fully understood emotion behind them.

After a couple minutes of the only sounds being Lambo's sobs and Tsuna's calming coos, I-Pin interjected again in a very quiet, almost broken voice.

“Fuuta dead?”

Nana's face went blank and so did Tsuna's. Less anticipated was Lambo's reaction--he suddenly ceased crying and _hurled_ himself at I-Pin. 

“No!” he shrieked, attempting to hit the Chinese native in every possible spot. “ _No_!”

I-Pin curled up into a protective ball and Nana and Tsuna restrained Lambo quickly.

“No siblings may hit each other in this house,” Nana ordered sternly.

“Yes, Maman,” Lambo replied quietly. For a long time after that, though, there was something haunted in his eyes.

They shouldn’t even know what death _meant_. Kami, Tsuna _hated_ the mafia for doing this to his children. He was pretty sure that at least Lambo and I-Pin had murdered many people, as they had been assassins, and he wouldn’t be surprised if Fuuta had killed someone in self-defense before. That was going to weigh heavily on them when they got older, and all Tsuna could do was be there. By the time they were old enough that the true impact of their actions hit them, though, Tsuna couldn't help but think that by that point he’d be able to relate. And wasn’t that a black thought.

“.+.”

Ryohei was more vicious and less focused in practicing. Tsuna was also less focused, but less… good… in general, which wasn't great because he wasn't all that good in the first place. The longer the time stretched, the less focused they got.

“Hey, it's not your fault,” they told each other routinely, so many times that it kind of lost its meaning.

They ended up staying together sometimes, leaning on each other. Occasionally they cried, although a lot of the tears had happened in the beginning.

Ryohei eventually got fed up (and by eventually it was like two days) and so they started using that time to search even more in earnest, ignoring Reborn's approval that “you can't let such a valuable asset and Family member be taken from you.” Tsuna legitimately actually turned around and said “screw you” very calmly to Reborn's face.

“Fuuta is my _son_ , not my _asset_ or _pet._ Don't talk about him like that. You don't have an emotional connection to him. Come on, Ryohei. I think this area is one we haven't searched yet.”

-._.+

“I… I think we should inform Hibari-san,” Tsuna suggested several days into it. “He can help with the search.”

“And he won't like that someone under Namimori's protection got taken, either,” Ryohei added. “Yeah, it's a good idea. Let's extremely go.”

“Now?!” Tsuna yelped as Ryohei grabbed his arm and started walking.

“Yeah!” Ryohei exclaimed. “This way Fuuta will be retrieved faster!”

-._.+

That's how they ended up in front of Hibari-san.

“My- _a_ , a child in my household has gone missing,” Tsuna reported. Hibari-san raised an eyebrow but didn't attack, so Tsuna took a deep breath in. However, before he could continue, Ryohei picked it up for him.

“We need you to help us find him and punish the one who did it! His name is EXTREMELY Fuuta and he's about this high and he's got light brown hair and always wears a striped scarf - ”

“Who took him?” Hibari-san interrupted, leaning back in his office chair that he somehow made a throne.

“We-we don't know,” Tsuna said, brows drawn and eyes darting around the room, anywhere but Hibari-san. “I'm sorry for bothering you with this, we'll go now-”

“No, Sawada,” Ryohei denied, staring straight into Hibari-san's eyes and not moving a muscle. “We're not going anywhere.”

Ryohei was strong and sharp in that moment, all protectiveness. Tsuna gazed at him and remembered that he could do _anything_ for family. Nervously but firmly, he stepped up to stand beside Ryohei and also looked Hibari-san in the eye. “Would you please help us find him?”

“You're teaching him bad habits, boxer,” Hibari-san said lazily, eyeing Tsuna. “Talking back and being disrespectful."

“I said please!” Tsuna squeaked. His kaa-san had taught him to be plenty respectful!

“Nah,” Ryohei laughed. “I'm just extremely bringing out those things in him. Plus, it's our right as citizens of Namimori to ask for help from our protectors.”

Hibari-san nodded the slightest bit. “It pleases me to know you thought of this,” he conceded. “Good herbivores.” And then there was a pause that he spent staring at Tsuna again. “Will you also bring out the fight in this tiny herbivore?”

Ryohei nodded enthusiastically, pumping his fist. “Sawada has extreme potential!!”

“Mm. I expect that he joins us in spars sometime soon. Maybe then I'll get a challenge.”

Ryohei kind of gasped, offended. “Excuse -”  
Hibari-san pushed them out the door. “I'll search for the small animal and bite the one who endangered him to death,” he assured them.

“It's not _that_ one-sided, Hibari!” Ryohei protested. “I'm the extreme regional boxing champion!”

“Your style is too rigid,” Hibari-san informed the boxer with flat eyes, a miniscule curve to his mouth. “You have yet to learn to break the rules, or at least take up a less herbivorish sport like kickboxing.”

“It's called sportsmanship!” Ryohei hollered at the newly closed door.  

“It's called being an herbivore,” Hibari-san sniped back, voice slightly muffled. “Go away, boxing herbivore.”

They heard the sounds of a window opening, and sure enough, when Ryohei dared to open the door, Tsuna barely caught the edge of  Hibari-san's gakuran fluttering before it disappeared under the windowsill.

“Oh my gosh,” Tsuna gasped. “I had no idea you could _talk back_ to Hibari-san like that without dying!”

“He likes the banter,” Ryohei stated. “But don't worry, Sawada! You'll always have a special place in my heart. You're my first true boxing disciple!”

Tsuna tried not to stumble as Ryohei knuckled his head good-naturedly (and as his brain took that _special place_ another way than probably intended).  

(That was the first time in a long time the burden of losing Fuuta lifted off both of their shoulders momentarily.)

“.+.”

“Okay, spill,” Haru snapped at them. She cornered them one day with crossed arms, Kyoko her sidekick, and with that determined expression that meant they weren’t leaving until the young women were satisfied. “What has you both wound up this tight _and_ hopeless?”

Ryohei and Tsuna looked at each other. Tsuna knew automatically what Ryohei would choose--deflect, lie, dismiss. The boxer cared too extremely much to burden his friends (especially female friends) with something that weighed so heavily on his mind. Tsuna would have chosen that path in another universe, but in this one, he could see the cracks poised to form in between them and the girls. He could see the pressure already hidden in their faces, but not hidden well enough. The Sky in him reached out for Harmony--Harmony for the girls’ mental state and the future of his group.

“Fuuta,” Tsuna whispered tremulously. Somehow, saying it in this moment made everything more real, and he couldn’t stop his tear ducts. Really?! He had cried about this so much _already_.

“Went on a vacation somewhere nice!” Ryohei interrupted with false bravado. Everyone present could see the shine of water in his eyes and his trembling lip. Haru stared pointedly at him, and Kyoko looked deeply disappointed.

“I appreciate you trying to spare us, guys,” Kyoko spoke up, “but it’s not fun to be kept out of the loop, especially when it seems like you’re shouldering an extra burden so we don’t have to. We’re not weak.”

Ryohei shook his head vehemently. Tsuna hung his.

“Really? It certainly felt like you thought so. You know, every day you’ve slowly been crumbling before our eyes. It’s horrifying. In the future, please take care of yourselves, and please let us know what’s going on. You decide how close we’re going to be based on what you trust us with now.”

“Fuuta’s gone,” Ryohei blurted. “He’s gone and we can’t find him and we’re failures. Is that what you wanted to know?”

Immediately, the girls’ faces turned solemn and soft. “Oh, you silly boys,” Kyoko muttered. “Trying to bear everything yourselves.”

“Do you know how many children go missing per year in Japan?” Haru asked. She received shaken heads. “Good. You don’t want to know. What’s important is that we are going to help you look, and we are going to help you not crash like you have been mentally. You’re welcome. Also, you should probably tell Yamamoto about all this sometime soon, because he’s been worried too and keeping secrets is exactly the kind of thing that his old ‘pals’ did.”

Tsuna winced. Haru looked piercingly at them both until she was sure they understood, and then gathered all of them up into a group hug.

“Come on,” she grunted. “We all need this.” (And they really did.)

-._.-

And then the next day, before they had the option to tell Yamamoto, Ryohei went missing too.

-._.-

Ryohei didn't go on his morning jog. Ryohei didn't come to pick Tsuna up for the morning jog. Ryohei wasn't at morning practice.

Something was seriously wrong. Had Ryohei been taken too?!

Kyoko’s presence gave a partial answer to his worry when Tsuna threw open the doors to the gym. She was pounding away at a punching bag. (It looked like Haru and Yamamoto hadn’t arrived yet.) He stopped for a minute to take in the vicious focus of her attacks. He never managed to move the bag that much, and he'd be doing push-ups for months at this point specifically for that goal! He just wanted to be as cool as the movies (as Ryohei)...

“Kyo-Kyoko-chan?” Tsuna questioned timidly, breaking some of her trance.

“Oh, sorry I didn't see you there!” she responded, flashing him a weak smile as she took a drink of water. “I knew you'd come. You're worried about Ryo-nii, right?” Tsuna nodded fervently as Kyoko returned to punching the living daylights out of the bag. “He'll be fine, but he's in the hospital.” The word _hospital_ was accompanied by an extremely aggressive kick.

“Um, wh-wha?” Tsuna stuttered. No one could beat Ryohei. Ryohei was unbeatable. His strength, his energy, his endurance and optimism… Hibari-san was the obvious exception, but this rattled Tsuna's world. At least Ryohei wasn't just _gone_ like Fuuta was. Tsuna would never have been able to forgive himself.

“Contrary to popular belief, my brother isn’t just an unbeatable machine with unlimited energy,” Kyoko said, the strain and self-deprecation in her voice evident. “It’s taken him a lot of work and time to get to where he is. He used to pick fights with people much older and stronger than him, wanting to get stronger and prove himself,  but he’d get beaten up over and over. Finally I begged him to stop fighting at all. He promised, but it was a promise he couldn’t keep. I shouldn’t have asked something like that from him anyway.” She roundhouse-kicked, knocking the bag a full inch back. That didn’t explain the reason she seemed to be blaming herself _this_ much--Kyoko, like Ryohei, wasn’t one for excessive worry or self-disparagement. (Tsuna would know because those were _his_ habits.) Tsuna kept quiet, however. Right now it seemed like Kyoko just needed to vent some steam, which was so valid Tsuna wanted to cry. Actually, well, he was going to be overly emotional for the next little bit, wasn’t he? Ryohei had been in danger, one of Tsuna’s _own_ , the one he _most wanted to keep safe_ \--thankfully, before he could continue down that rabbit trail much longer, Kyoko’s story interrupted him.

“So we settled on a compromise. It wasn’t hard to coax out the sportsman in him. Ryo-nii has always valued honesty and integrity highly, even if he put those aside for hot blood roaring through his veins during fights. I did my research into martial arts and decided that boxing looked tame but still extreme. I said, just restrict yourself a little bit, stop kicking, stick to attacking specific parts of the body, and you can join the boxing club. You can teach me some so I can protect myself too and you won’t be so worried. He restricted his battle-lust to the boxing club for me, because he knew that I hated seeing him hurt. He could be the biggest champion, I knew it, and he _is_. But he couldn’t _defend himself_ when someone stronger than the last unchallenging regional match he fought came along. And that’s my fault.”

“Ryohei wouldn’t want you to blame yourself,” Tsuna said at a volume barely louder than a whisper.

“I know,” Kyoko tossed back. “I _know_ that. It doesn’t help what I’m feeling right now.”

“Don’t insult your brother by taking responsibility for his decisions,” Haru spoke up from beside Tsuna. He jerked when he realized she was there, and yet he felt no surprise. He’d known she was there somehow, but it hadn’t registered. “He knew what he was doing.”

“And neither of you could have foreseen this,” Tsuna added. “No one can see the future!”

“You’re right, of course,” she sighed, mopping her forehead. “I just needed to take out my frustration on something, so I did. Thanks for trying to cheer me up anyways. I’ll be able to contain myself for the rest of the day. Let’s go to class.”

Yamamoto had forgotten his book bag, so he’d had to run back and had missed practice. Before class started, Tsuna and Haru filled him in. They shared a group hug and Haru left for second period, since she’d already missed her first. The three attending Nami Middle made plans for lunch together.

-._.-

Of course he had to avenge his crush, his fellow boxer, his best friend. There was no question.

Tsuna wanted the attackers to feel the same pain Ryohei had.

(Plus, what if they were the ones who had Fuuta? Tsuna knew it could be a lot of people, but the niggling in his head said otherwise…)

-._.+

Of course, his intention of revenge didn't mean that the attackers came before Ryohei. Right after school, Tsuna stopped by to 1) cheer up Ryohei and 2) reassure his panicking brain that the boxer was not in fact dying that very moment.

The receptionist looked at him weirdly when he asked to see Ryohei, but he wasn't arguing the point. “Thank you,” he said, and strode past her without strict permission.

Ryohei was laying in bed, strangely subdued, when Tsuna came in. The moment he was in sight, the boxer pasted on a smile and struggled to sit up.

“Hey, Tsuna!” Though the voice was strained, Tsuna could tell that Ryohei was genuinely happy to see him, and also that his first name was apparently in use now?!? That. Was awesome. It had only been about seven or so months since Reborn came to Namimori, and they'd already come so far…

But this might just be a one time thing, so he couldn't get his hopes up yet. Plus… Tsuna focused again for a moment - Ryohei was not feeling that smile right now. It might be the stress.

“Are… are you in serious pain?” Tsuna asked, rushing over. Kyoko, Haru, Yamamoto, and the kids looked concerned from the door, and Tsuna ushered them inside.

“No,” Ryohei denied. Tsuna sort of doubted that, even if he probably didn't feel much physical pain because Ryohei never did. He was a beast like that. But the stress? Yeah, that also counted as pain. And Tsuna had never seen Ryohei so down or strained. After a moment, the Sun spoke again, much quieter than usual.

“I just, you know… I should have been strong enough to beat that guy. What if it had come for you or Kyoko next, Tsuna? If he's stronger than me, then no way could you defeat him, and I… I never want to see you like… this,” Ryohei admitted, gesturing around wildly and helplessly. The crease in his eyebrows, the flat press of his lips, and the periodic tic of tightening the bandage wrappings on his wrist spoke to his worry. “And those must have been the guys that got Fuuta. We - Fuuta's somewhere out there and I wasn't able to rescue him even when I had an abductor right in front of me. Hibari was right. I'm… I'm weak.”

Eyes burning and just a little sad, Tsuna fiddled with the bed’s blanket and quietly told him, “It's okay to not be one hundred percent all the time. Remember when you told me that?”

Ryohei nodded and smiled. It had been an off-day for Tsuna, who was sleep-deprived, weepy, and jumping at shadows. The demons in his head came out to play, even before Fuuta was gone. They did some stretches and then jogged to the park, where Ryohei pushed Tsuna on the swings for a bit and then swung next to him. They'd talked and Ryohei had done his best to keep the mood lighthearted, but at last they had settled into a serious discussion, and embers in his eyes, Ryohei had hugged Tsuna and gently, softly said, “It's okay to not be one hundred percent all the time, Sawada. Just make sure to rest up and heal so that you come back swinging.” They'd actually stayed out until an hour into school, and Hibari had chased them back. Tsuna had never forgotten the entire morning since, and he wasn't about to let his crush do so either.

“Just make sure to rest up and heal so that you can come back swinging,” Tsuna finished, and fancied that it was pride shining in Ryohei's eyes. He added a bit more, perking up. “In the meantime, your family will protect you so that you can concentrate on healing! And then we can work on getting stronger after that!”

Ryohei's eyes softened and some of the sadness leaked out of them. “Thanks, Tsuna. I needed that.” He sat up taller and smiled more genuinely. “I'll just trust you then! And when you're back, then we'll train together.” Ryohei leaned over and gave his boxing companion an extremely fierce, lingering hug! Kyoko squeed a little from beside them, and Tsuna melted into the embrace.

Tsuna and his family departed from the hospital room with a little piece of Sunshine each in their hearts. (Tsuna had the biggest portion, of course.) They cradled their precious pieces that exuded trust and protective warmth, which would surely carry them through the dark journey ahead.

-._.-

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Reborn checked, black, unreadable eyes gazing into Tsuna's determined ones.

“Yes,” Tsuna responded, Flames practically leaking into the surrounding areas.

“Extremely so.” His mouth quirked up, and so Reborn felt it appropriate to let himself roll his eyes. Tsuna chuckled.

Tsuna stepped back to survey the team. Bianchi, with goggles and lunch. Yamamoto, arm finally healed, something dark lurking underneath his bright eyes and casual tossing of the magical baseball bat into the air. Reborn, who was… Reborn. Haru, protected with boxing gloves, whose passion to avenge her captain and a cute child was shining clear on her face. And Gokudera, who probably shouldn't be up, but Tsuna didn't want to push their shaky relationship right now. At least they had dynamite and a ready explosion if worse came to worst.

“Okay, let's go,” Tsuna said. He couldn't resist adding, “To the extreme,” to which he heard at least two quiet groans from behind him and smiled, job done.

-._.+

Kokuyo Land was barren and when they walked in, Bianchi having melted the lock, the light darkened two shades. Tsuna shivered and tried to draw on the sunshine trust that Ryohei had just given him. This place was so unlike his extreme, loud boxer with heart, spirit, and energies much too big for his body.

Tsuna started rambling about the place to take his mind off it, and then a blond appeared out of nowhere and Yamamoto stepped up to take him.

Tsuna wanted to leave, but he had to see this through. Ryohei and Fuuta would be kept safe and happy, and Tsuna would do his part to ensure it happened.

-._.+

Tsuna _almost_ got not-Mukuro with a stunning uppercut - as in, head problems to the extreme uppercut, not a beautiful one - but his Intuition said to wait. And all of a sudden, in steel-grey eyes Tsuna saw the guilt and pain from Ryohei's eyes earlier today magnified a hundred times. Tsuna saw emptiness and resignation in those eyes, like he'd seen in Yamamoto's.

And Tsuna just couldn't condemn him.

“Are you really Rokudo Mukuro?” he asked, unwilling to believe it.

His Intuition was correct.

-._.+

When they finally got to the theatre, Mukuro lounged, smirking, on his facsimile of a throne in his ruined castle. Tsuna immediately wanted to punch him. He did not have any of Lanchia's deep sorrow.

“Please come forward slowly. I would like to take some time to get to know you better,” Mukuro requested, pausing probably for dramatic effect. “Vongola Decimo.”

No. Tsuna didn't want to get to know Mukuro, not when he had hurt so many people so badly. And then Fuuta came up to him with blank, haunted eyes, stabbed Bianchi, and all Tsuna could think about was what Lancia-san had confessed happening to him. What atrocities had Mukuro made Fuuta, _Tsuna's child,_ endure? Tsuna's heart dropped.

And then his vision erupted orange. Tsuna put his flaming forehead to Fuuta's.

“It's not your fault,” he breathed out, compassionate down to his very core. His Sky Flames, soothing and coaxing and targeting, ripped Mukuro's strong but corrupted Mist out of Fuuta's beautiful sparkling Flame.

Fuuta came back to himself with a gasp and tears. Tsuna clutched him for a bit, rocking him back and forth with more healing Sky Flames.

“What a touching reunion,” Mukuro drawled from his perch, tired of the show. “But I'm afraid I have much more planned. Don't you want to know?”

“You're such a dramatic villain, Mukuro,” Hyper Dying Will Mode Tsuna sighed. “But no. This ends here, right now.”

Mukuro smiled mockingly and twirled his trident. “I don't think you have that much power, darling. Nice try.”

“It won't matter what you think in a minute,” Reborn interjected, pointing upward to a new source of light. “Leon's almost done with your specialized weapon, Dame-Tsuna.”

At that moment the wall blew in and Hibari-san and Gokudera entered together.  
The rest is history.

-._.-

In the end, Tsuna couldn't even hate Mukuro as wholly as he'd intended. Of course the Mist's backstory didn't excuse hurting or possessing people (...especially Tsuna's family), but people _had_ hurt and possessed _him._  Tsuna's Sky looked at that broken, jaded Mist Flame and longed to fix it.

Tsuna wasn't even sure it was possible, and in no way was it _safe_ or _sane_ , but he figured he'd try anyway. It was the kind of thing Ryohei would do.

...Neither Reborn nor his Intuition would let him do more than verbally protest the Vindice dragging Mukuro away.

“Wait, no,” Tsuna said in a frail, shaking voice when the Vindice were almost through the portal, Mukuro and his minions in chains behind them. “Mukuro is insane, the mafia made him go insane! At least forgive his followers, who he possessed when all the crimes you're locking Mukuro up for happened!”

Before following the others into the portal, the last black-wrapped Vindice stood there for a minute. They gave no sign of listening, not even turning around, but Tsuna seized the moment for the opportunity it was.

Voice shaking, he continued. “You wouldn't listen to their case regardless of what they said their own behalf. They had to break out for you to listen. Don't prisoners have a right to tell their story if they're wrongly imprisoned, even if you'll just discard it? Aren’t you, as policemen of the mafia, supposed to be fair and just?”

The Vindice was turning now.

Tsuna swallowed, throat dry. He should have stopped talking a while ago, but this feeling inside him kept feeding his traitorous mouth more things to say. Why didn’t he listen more closely when Reborn was trying to teach him about hostage negotiation and just how to talk to mafia people in general?!

“Civilian,” the Vindice rumbled in a low, disdainful voice, “learn your place.”

And then they were gone.

Reborn was covering his face with his hat, and Tsuna got the sensation that he’d just done something exceedingly stupid.

“ _Never_ do that again,” Reborn bit out before leading the march out of Kokuyo Land.

-._.+

Before they left, Tsuna made sure the company sat down and had a good meal while he talked with Fuuta. They needed it, and if Tsuna had learned anything from Ryohei, it was to look out for his friends and compatriots. Also he really wanted to just scoop Fuuta up in his arms and never let go, but he was too weak for that.

Tsuna took a deep breath and shook off his failure with the Vindice a moment before. He couldn’t allow that to distract him now. He’d get told off by Reborn later, he was sure.

Tsuna sat down, drawing his child into his lap, and ruffled the young one’s hair. “How are you feeling?”

Fuuta's eyes, usually so bright and shy, were troubled. “I don't know,” he admitted. “It's a lot. That… that reminded me of times that mafiaso ripped pages out of my book, pushed me around, and never gave them back.” Fuuta shivered and buried his head in Tsuna's orange 27 hoodie. “And a lot of times they'd just make me rank what they wanted and hit me if I didn't start with that ranking right away.”

“Aww, honey,” Tsuna whispered sympathetically. He held Fuuta while he cried a little. Tsuna was sure that much worse things had been done to his child, but Fuuta hadn't ever been allowed to speak of them before, so Tsuna was giving him much-needed time. Fuuta would open up on his own, just like he was now. He was very emotional, and dealt with it better than Lambo, _that_ was for certain.

“Where's Ryohei-nii?” Fuuta asked, looking up. “Didn't… didn't he want to see me too? I mean, I'm glad that he wasn't hurt by coming to find me, and I'm really sorry that happened, I'll make it up to you with rankings, promise--”

“Slow down,” Tsuna chuckled a bit. “Yes, of course he wanted to see you. He's like a father, yeah? But he got hurt before we could come, so I made him stay to heal up. And don't worry, none of this was your fault.”

Tsuna didn't need any rankings from Fuuta, but he'd save that issue for later. Tsuna's Flames nudged Fuuta's clear, scrunched ones. They reached out tentatively and then soaked up Tsuna's Harmony happily. (Not that Tsuna knew the terms for all this - instinct was guiding him.)

A little of the self-blame eased out of Fuuta's eyes. He giggled weakly. “You ordered Ryohei-nii to keep still and he _obeyed_ you?”

“Yup!” Tsuna smiled, puffing himself up. “Thinking about it, that is pretty crazy, isn't it?” They shared a small giggle.

“How's Lambo and I-Pin doing?” Fuuta asked, worry renewed as a bit of silence left room for more thought.

“They're fine,” Tsuna reassured him. “I didn't let them come. They're too little. _You're_ too little to be here,” Tsuna frowned, petting Fuuta’s hair.

“It's okay,” Fuuta told him softly. “I'm used to this sort of thing, um, getting taken. Better me than them.”

Tsuna could see so much of himself in Fuuta, and he smiled, as sorrowful as he was. “I promise I won't let this happen to you again.”

Fuuta's eyes widened. “What?”

If he couldn’t keep this promise, then he had no right claiming Fuuta as a son anyway. “I promise to keep you safe from any future kidnappers. You're my son, the least I owe you is safety,” Tsuna pledged firmly, drawing his cute, vulnerable son in for another hug. Fuuta was a calming presence, enough that Tsuna found his true feelings slipping into his words like nothing. “I love you.”

Fuuta searched his face for any insincerity and came up empty.  “I love you too… Papa,” Fuuta said shyly.

They exchanged small smiles, damaged from recent events but closer for them.

After a while, Tsuna stood up and took Fuuta's hand. “Come on, big boy, let's get you home to Mama.”

“Yay!” Fuuta cheered. “Wait… is she actually my grandma now?”

Tsuna was stunned into silence by the big blue eyes gazing up at him. “Um… you can call her whatever you want,” he replied. “Grandma or Mama.”

Tilting his head in thought, Fuuta settled on, “Mama. That's the first thing that comes to mind.”

“Okay,” Tsuna agreed. He doubted it would matter overly much to his kaa-san anyway. 

-._.+

"Hey!” Tsuna called to Gokudera as they all walked out. He took a deep breath and met the Storm's eyes with all the authority he could muster up. “Thanks for helping out. Are you feeling well?”

“Perfect, Jyuudaime!” the teen reassured, giving Tsuna a thumbs up.

Tsuna let his doubt show on his face. Gokudera was not fine, he was swaying and Mukuro had just possessed him and used his body past its limit. But Tsuna still felt so awkward with Gokudera that it didn't sit well with him to order the silver-haired teen around. Besides, what could he do? “Um, okay?” he said, glancing behind him uncertainly.

Haru sent him a _go on_ glance. Tsuna almost groaned. He regretted telling Haru anything. She was as determined as Ryohei and had encouraged Tsuna to try and have this talk before. She wasn't going to let him back out now. Plus, Tsuna really _did_ want to ease some of the ache he could feel from the contentious teen. Tsuna was having so many mentally draining feelings conversations today! He was so proud of himself.

He sighed and bent down to hug Fuuta and instruct him to go walk with Bianchi and Haru for just a bit while Tsuna talked with Gokudera-san. Fuuta nodded sadly and let go of his hand.

“Hey,” Tsuna said softly, “this doesn't mean I don't love you anymore. I just need to work some things out with Gokudera-san, and then I'll be right back with you, okay? I can't give you a piggyback ride like Ryohei can, but I can carry you for… however long I can handle it.”

Fuuta's slightly teary eyes brightened and he nodded quietly. “Thank you, Papa,” he breathed, muffled because of the tight hug he was giving Tsuna.

“Of course,” Tsuna reassured Fuuta. Did all of his children have abandonment issues? It was an extremely worrying thought… but he had to deal with the Italian bomber before he could focus on that. Tsuna ran to catch up with Gokudera.

He was looking down at the ground, facing away from him. Tsuna bet he knew why. He inhaled.

“You know, Gokudera, it's really uncomfortable for me when you call me Jyuudaime,” Tsuna starts again. “If you want to be closer to me, you should call me Tsuna-san instead.”

“Doesn't matter,”  Gokudera responded, unexpectedly bitter. “I'll never be good enough. I've never been good enough before, so why did I expect this to be any different?”

“Good enough in what way?” Tsuna asked carefully.

“Che,” Gokudera clicked his tongue in exasperation, “to… I dunno. To get paid. To have someone to complain or talk to, I dunno, it's stupid.”

“No it's not,” Tsuna reassured his companion, still worried because of the way he was facing away from Tsuna. “Wanting to have a friend isn't stupid. Wanting… wanting emotional intimacy isn't stupid.”

“Yeah, well,” Gokudera breathed out in an explosion of frustrated air, “in the mafia, ‘emotional intimacy’ gets you dead. It doesn't exist, because of basic mafia facts of life. You're going to learn that and by then you'll all be in too deep and you'll all die inside from the pain or whatever. Civilians.”

Tsuna was glad the outburst had finally come. Now he knew exactly what he was dealing with and what he needed to overcome. “Hmm. You definitely know more about the lifestyle of the mafia than I do, but you're in my town now, living here and not in the mafia. You should follow the rules and regulations of here, not ones that you've physically left behind.”

“We're still Mafia here,” Gokudera contested, mordant. “In case you haven't noticed, we just got attacked by members of a freaking  _Vindice Prison breakout_.”

“No, we're not mafia yet, Gokudera,” Tsuna informed him, a little frustrated himself. “We need more time as teenagers. Normal teens who worry about school and maybe training on the side. But you're so tense and paranoid in Namimori and it's really not a town that requires that kind of constant mental exhaustion, especially when we're being protected by Hibari-san! It's not healthy for you, and it's what is preventing you from being part of our group.”

Gokudera's face contorted nastily. “What if - what if I don't want to be part of your little mushy clique?! You're going to commit emotional suicide by having so many people close to you when you enter the _mafia_!”

“If you didn't want to, things would continue as they are,” Tsuna said calmly. “But if you don't, I'll never trust you. The tension between us will never fade.”

Gokudera's head snapped up. “Oh,” he said softly, and Tsuna understood the way his mouth flopped around uselessly for a bit.

Tsuna nodded and began to catch up to Yamamoto and Bianchi.

“Wait, Jyuudaime, I-I - ”

“You have time to think about it, Gokudera-san,” Tsuna informed him, meeting the bomber's eyes with sincerity. “I'm giving you time. But we need to know soon.” Without another word, Tsuna ran up to Yamamoto, almost crying in relief that it was over.  
Hopefully Gokudera would decide that he wanted to be friends, but Tsuna couldn't decide anything for him.

“Hey, Tsuna!” Yamamoto greeted, throwing his arm over Tsuna's shoulder. Tsuna laughed sheepishly and waved back.

“Sorry for all this mess,” he apologized, eyes wandering. “You're injured because of me.”

“Hey,” Yamamoto said sharply, “if it weren't for you and Sawagawa-nii, I'd be dead. So don't blame yourself too much.”

Tsuna looked back at Yamamoto to see steely sincerity. He breathed out and smiled. “Okay. I'll try not to.”

At least everyone had made it out alive. That was the most important part. And Fuuta was back!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hibari and Ryohei are best friends and Ryohei teaches Kyoko how to box. fight me.
> 
> Important notes that explain things: 
> 
> 1) **Vindice:**  
>  You thought Tsuna was going to get away with that stunt with the Vindice? *wheeze* this poor boy knows close to nothing about the mafia. He was digging himself such a deep pit, and that impression is going to stick with the Vindice. Sorry Tsuna, you done royally screwed up. The advice he gave to Gokudera is good... for their current situation. Tsuna needs to at least start understanding what mafiaso think like. 
> 
> 2) **AU Timeline:**  
>  so after writing this chapter I discovered that the daily arc was a lot longer than I thought it was?? Like over a year according to the manga? Heck, I'll take it. This means that this universe is officially AU in the timeline too. By pushing the Kokuyo Arc up, Tsuna will have more time to train and appreciate all the minutae in the mafia stuff Reborn will teach him. :D so, this also means more daily life happenings will be in the next chapter. Which is good because I have close to 0 idea how to do the Varia Arc and we deserve a bit of a break after this arc anyway ^^;
> 
> 3) **Where Did Reborn and Gokudera and ___ Go:**  
>  Tsuna tends to ignore everything that doesn't immediately matter to him, and this sorta AU where Tsuna ~emotions~ better isn't any different. He's just trying to cope by blocking out everything he doesn't have to deal with at that moment. So Reborn is there, we just don't see him. Everywhere Tsuna goes, Gokudera is sure to follow, but Tsuna ignored him for his own peace of mind. Same for any number of characters I forgot. 
> 
> 4) **Fitting All The Characters In:**  
>  I'm,,, trying,,, to develop background characters and give precious moments to everyone and stuff but I realize I'm skipping over a lot of characters and I'm sorry ;-; there's just not enough time or energy for me to do every character in the series. It's practically impossible anyway, I keep remembering new ones -_-
> 
> 4) **Motivation:**  
>  please PLEASE review+give me feedback and favorite parts of the chapter! The only reason you have an update is because I kept going back to read the reviews and kept getting inspired again ^^

**Author's Note:**

> Haha sorry not sorry
> 
> Did you like it?? Let me know in the comments! Which was your favorite relationship?


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